Copays aren’t the only cost to the patient that can impact access to specialty care. Will the patient need additional time off work, childcare, or travel a great distance to see a specialist? eConsults can minimize these costs as well.
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Measuring Practice Success and Patient Care: eConsults Deliver Patient Cost Savings
Visiting a specialist is expensive. And not visiting the specialist can be catastrophic for the patient. eConsults deliver patient cost savings. The patient saves at least $120 per avoided referral. $40 per visit over the 3 visits typically needed to receive a diagnosis and treatment.
Measuring Practice Success and Patient Care: eConsult Patient Benefits
eConsult patient benefits include patients save money with fewer copays, less travel expenses and reduced time off work; patient satisfaction improves when diagnosis and treatment are delivered quickly; equal access to specialty care increases because social and geographic challenges related to care are reduced; and outcomes also improve when patients receive treatment fast, avoid expensive emergency care, and experience better care continuity.
Measuring Practice Success and Patient Care: 20% of eConsults Report a New Diagnosis
After launching an eConsult program, referral trends should decline and stabilize once eConsults are being used regularly by your providers. Earlier, we reviewed a chart that showed a peak in eConsult usage. This peak is the ideal time to educate providers about additional specialties that eConsult can support. My team can provide sample use cases and common conditions during this period to improve cost savings and reduce the burden to patients that come with visiting a specialist in-person.
Measuring Practice Success and Patient Care: Review Referral Trends After Launching eConsults
After launching an eConsult program, referral trends should decline and stabilize once eConsults are being used regularly by your providers. Earlier, we reviewed a chart that showed a peak in eConsult usage. This peak is the ideal time to educate providers about additional specialties that eConsult can support. My team can provide sample use cases and common conditions during this period to improve cost savings and reduce the burden to patients that come with visiting a specialist in-person.
Measuring Practice Success and Patient Care: Track Emergency Room Visits
$8.3 billion is spent annually on emergency department visits that could be provided in another location. The Health Care Cost Institute estimates the average cost of an ED visit at $1,917. Avoidable visits are frequently related to chronic conditions, particularly behavioral health, diabetes, and hypertension. They are also caused by the escalation of symptoms while patients wait for a specialist appointment. Symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, abdominal pain.
Measuring Practice Success and Patient Care: Monitoring Hospitalization and Readmissions Trends
Control costs by monitoring hospitalization and readmission trends. eConsults can help prevent hospitalization and readmission by allowing PCPs to build more robust preventive care plans; address nuances related to chronic conditions; and identify patients at risk for readmission and prioritize interventions. The average hospital stay cost is $11,7001 – the most expensive type of care utilization. Preventing even one hospital stay delivers significant shared savings.
Measuring Practice Success and Patient Care: Measuring eConsult Clinical Quality
Studies show that improved access and preventative care decreases disease and mortality. By addressing health problems before they require emergency intervention, both patients and the health system save money and see better outcomes. How do you know the advice you receive from eConsults is working to prevent disease escalation? Learn how to measure eConsult clinical quality.
Measuring Practice Success and Patient Care: Identifying Conditions Easily Managed in the Primary Care Setting
If it’s not urgent, procedural or diagnostic, it likely can be managed in the primary care setting using an eConsult. eConsult specialists also support patients with chronic conditions and abnormal labs and imaging. Finally, patients with comorbidities are often good candidates for eConsults.
Measuring Practice Success and Patient Care: Identifying High Cost Specialties
When you know your patient population, as most at-risk practices do, it’s easy to identify opportunities to deploy eConsults in high-cost specialties. Let’s look at a few of the more expensive specialties and frequently occurring conditions submitted as eConsults.